Welcome

Welcome to the USS Portland CA 33 website.  This site is dedicated to the men who served aboard the USS Portland, a heavy cruiser that was in commission in the US Navy from 1933 to 1946.

The primary purpose of this site is summed up by the Latin motto Meminisse est ad vivificandum - To remember is to keep alive.


Introduction

Although aspects of her service in the US Navy have been published, there is no one source for a detailed comprehensive history of the USS Portland.  In general most accounts are in the context of action in the Pacific during 1941-1945, with Portland being one of many participants. These accounts appear in separate monographs of particular naval battles such as The Coral Sea, Midway, Tarawa, Guadalcanal, and Leyte Gulf, to name just a few.  In total Portland was awarded sixteen battle stars.   

What is not generally appreciated is that by the time the United States entered World War II, the USS Portland had a distinguished career in naval service from the time she was put in commission on February 23, 1933, to the outbreak of war on December 7, 1941.

Heber A. Holbrook, who served aboard USS San Francisco and was veteran of some of the same battles the Portland's crew fought in the Pacific, was the first to attempt a chronological overview of Portland's time in service from 1933 to 1946. His book, The History and Times of the U.S.S. Portland, published in 1990, is particularly valuable for its account of the cruiser's pre-World War II service, a part of her history that has received very little attention and is therefore, not nearly as well known as her war record.

In 2003, William Thomas Generous Jr. published Sweet Pea at War: A History of USS Portland, an account of CA33 during WWII. Based primarily on the official records Generous' narrative also includes information and eyewitness accounts provided by crewmembers.  A discussion of the book by the author held at the National Archives in October 2004 and recorded by C-Span can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?163746-1/book-discussion-sweet-pea-war-history-uss-portland